Girls Like Girls
by Tania-Terror
Summary: Mandy had been Karen's best friend for as long as either of them could remember. Lately though, Karen wanted something more than friendship, and she thought, hoped, Mandy did too.


**Girls Like Girls**

* * *

 **Notes:** Inspired by Girls Like Girls by Hayley Kiyoko

 _Girls like girls like boys do, nothing new_  
 _Isn't this why we came? Tell me if you feel it, too. Tell me_  
 _Girls like girls like boys do, nothing new_

* * *

A car honked at Karen as she rode her bike home. It honked again before angrily swerving passed her. She hardly registered the vehicle, or the angry woman that flipped her off.

Karen reached her front gate, slowed to a stop, and hopped off the bike, moving in a dreamlike state. The most telling of her emotions was the smile on her face. When she walked through the front door her mother asked her something, but she didn't really catch it.

Sheila came in from the kitchen and gasped at the sight of Karen's bloodied face. "Oh, my god! Karen, sweetie, are you alright?"

* * *

Earlier that day, Karen had ridden her bike over to the Gallagher house. It was summer and they were having a pool party. Lip had invited her. That's not why she was going, though. Karen didn't like Lip - not in _that_ way.

No, Karen was going because Mandy was going.

Mandy had been Karen's best friend for as long as either of them could remember. Lately though, Karen wanted something _more_ than friendship, and she thought, hoped, Mandy did too.

Karen knocked on the front door, and none other than Mandy herself answered it.

"Hey, glad you showed up," Mandy greeted.

"Of course," Karen replied, trying to keep the butterflies in her stomach calm.

They smiled widely at each other before wrapping their arms around the other in a welcoming embrace. This was a common occurrence now, greeting each other like they had been separated for years.

They were abruptly interrupted by Mandy's boyfriend, who teasingly secured Karen in a headlock. "What's up, Jackson?"

"Hey," Karen replied in a monotonous tone. She shoved him off, glaring at an empty space across the living room.

Karen _really_ didn't like Kenyatta. "Where's Lip?" she asked to avert confrontation.

"Out back with everyone else," Mandy answered.

Karen passed Ian and Mickey in the kitchen, who were getting more drinks for everyone. That had been going on for a little while now, Ian and Mickey - dating. It was about time as far as everyone they knew was concerned.

Upon exiting through the back door and into the backyard, Karen was greeted by Lip at the bottom steps. "Hey, you want a beer?"

"Sure."

"Cool, you can have mine," Lip offered.

Karen reluctantly took Lip's half finished beer as he grabbed a fresh one from the cooler Ian and Mickey carried passed them. She laughed internally. Karen didn't know if Lip was trying to be bad at this or if it just came naturally. Either way, he didn't have a chance - with her, or any girl for that matter.

Mandy came in and saved her from the moment, thankfully. "C'mon," she said, linking her arm with Karen's. "Let's go upstairs and change."

"Ok," Karen agreed happily.

Upstairs, in what was Fiona's room, Karen and Mandy were alone. Mandy shut the door behind them and subsequently removed her t-shirt, tossing it on the bed. Karen gulped stiffly and turned around to face the mirror above the dresser, catching Mandy's back reflection. She tried to ignore Mandy undressing behind her, and how Mandy's long dark hair reached the middle of her back, as she changed into her own swimsuit.

Mandy was certain Karen was watching her. She could always tell when Karen watched her. Even if she couldn't see it, she could feel it. Mandy chanced a glimpse herself but when she turned around, her eyes locked with Karen's briefly. Karen smiled at her, and she smiled back, blushing and glancing down before looking back up at Karen.

"Could you help me with this?" Mandy asked softly. She was in the middle of figuring out how to tie the strap on her red bikini top but when she looked at Karen, she lost all semblance of thought.

Karen nodded and walked towards her. When she reached her, Mandy could feel Karen's shallow breath on the back of her neck. She shut her eyes and kept her breathing as even as possible. She felt Karen's fingers brush up against her back, and she shuddered lightly. But when Mandy felt Karen sweep her hair to the side and run a hand over the back of her shoulder, her eyes snapped open with fear.

Mandy turned around swiftly, meeting Karen's expectant eyes. "I just backed up into a shelf. It's nothing."

"Right, ok," Karen replied simply. She knew Mandy was lying. This wasn't the first bruise she found on Mandy that Mandy didn't have a convenient excuse for. Kenyatta had never been good to Mandy, but recently his cruelty had reached new heights. No one knew what to do about him, so no one said anything. Karen didn't say anything. She didn't know who she was more mad at, Kenyatta or herself.

"C'mon, let's go back downstairs," Mandy said, diverting Karen's attention.

This time when she led Karen, she took her by the hand. Karen squeezed Mandy's hand gently, rubbing soothing circles with her thumb. They only dropped their hold when they reached the backyard.

For a couple hours, Karen and Mandy - along with Mickey, Ian, and Lip - drifted in and out of the house. They were waiting on Fiona, Vee, Kev, and the Gallagher kids to finish up in the pool. As much as they all loved spending time together, there was only so much room for all of them in the pool at once.

Kenyatta lingered like a shadow, never inserting himself in conversation, keeping a watchful eye on Mandy.

Likewise, Karen didn't let him out of her sight.

Fiona had just finished preparing an afternoon snack for the kids and called them inside. Vee and Kev escorted them in, and the pool was finally free. The boys went in first, Lip even jumped in cannonball style. Ian and Mickey splashed water back at him as Karen and Mandy laughed and rolled their eyes at them.

Karen jumped up from one of the lawn chairs set up in the yard and jogged towards the pool. Mandy stayed behind.

"What's she waiting for?" Lip asked Karen as she climbed the small ladder up the side of the pool.

Karen sighed. "Just giver her a sec."

"He's got some fuckin' nerve showing up here," Mickey commented, looking towards his sister where she was now talking with Kenyatta.

"Leave it alone, Mickey. He hasn't done anything."

Ian scoffed. "Yeah, not today. Not that we've seen."

"At least she's here," Karen pointed out. "This is the happiest I've seen her in weeks."

No one said anything after that, and Karen dipped into the pool when Mandy finally trotted towards them.

The group started on a few rounds of chicken with Karen as the referee, which was a much more difficult role than she originally thought. It was Mickey and Mandy on the shoulders of their respective teammates, Milkovich against Milkovich. No one with half a brain would want to be caught in the middle of that.

Next they appeased Lip with a game of Marco Polo, which lasted a while since everyone got out of the pool. When Lip at last realized everyone was messing with him, he opened his eyes and his friends and brother burst into laughter.

They returned to the pool and resumed heckling each other before settling into light conversation. Ian and Mickey had started exchanging bedroom eyes, which the others tried to tease, but the couple ignored them.

Fiona popped out onto the back porch and called out to her siblings and guests. "Hey, we're gonna watch a movie if any of you wanna join."

Ian swam up to Mickey, centimeters apart and whispered, "Wanna go?"

"Wanna go upstairs, if that's what you mean," Mickey replied before closing the distance between their lips.

"Ugh, ok, yeah, I'm gone," Lip groused, swimming passed the couple as they made out unabashedly.

"We're gone, too," Ian said, pulling away from Mickey and leading him by the wrist and out of the pool.

Karen and Mandy were left alone again.

Karen let herself drift in the water, her nose just below the surface as she took in a big gulp. She emerged suddenly and sprayed Mandy in the face with the water she held in her mouth. Mandy gasped in surprise before she retaliated and tried to tickle Karen, who hated being tickled. But if it was an excuse for Mandy to be touching her, she wasn't going to complain.

"Mandy!" Kenyatta brusquely called from where he lounged in a lawn chair. All he had been doing the whole day was drinking, he probably smelled as bad as Frank at this point. They thought he had been out cold.

"Don't go," Karen murmured.

"Go inside. I'll be there in a minute." Mandy gave her an apologetic smile and reluctantly left the pool.

Karen got out of the pool too, but lingered by the bottom steps, wrapping a towel around herself. She watched attentively from where she stood, and thought things would go south when Kenyatta grabbed Mandy by her elbow. Mandy pulled herself from his grasp though. He must have let her, there wasn't really any other way she could have done that.

Mandy returned to Karen's side. "How about that movie?"

Karen smiled and nodded her agreement. She let Mandy go before her as she glanced back at Kenyatta, shooting him a mean glare.

Inside, Karen and Mandy squeezed in tightly on the living room couch. Everyone was watching some movie on Cartoon Network that Liam had picked out. The only ones who were missing were Ian and Mickey, who were probably upstairs in the boys' bedroom.

A moment later, the back door opened and closed when Kenyatta came inside. He flopped down on a chair in the kitchen and finally passed out.

Mandy hadn't really been watching the movie. She was watching Karen watch the movie. Well, Karen was only pretending to watch it since she could feel her skin tingle everytime Mandy looked at her, but Mandy didn't know that. Mandy watched Karen breathing in and out slowly. She watched Karen twirling her fingers in her blonde hair. She wished it was her fingers instead.

About half an hour into the movie, Mandy cleared her throat. "Going to the bathroom, be right back."

Karen stared up at Mandy as she disappeared up the stairs. She didn't know why Mandy was going to the upstairs bathroom, but didn't think it was anything weird so she didn't linger on the thought.

Mandy didn't stay long in the bathroom, she just needed to get a grip before going back downstairs. It had become almost unbearable, painful even, to be around Karen and not be able to be with her the way Mandy wanted. She decided she needed some air, so she exited the bathroom. When she passed the boys' room, she could hear her brother and Ian moaning out in pleasure. For a split second, Mandy felt a twinge of jealousy. She sighed in attempt to dispel her anxiety and quietly slipped down the back stairs and into the backyard.

Several minutes went by and Mandy had yet to return from the bathroom. Karen waited a few more moments before she announced she was going to go find her friend.

She checked the bedrooms along the way, but they were all empty, except for the one Ian and Mickey occupied of course. No one was in the bathroom either, so Karen entered the kitchen from the back steps, only to find Kenyatta still passed out at the table. She scowled at him briefly and then checked the downstairs bathroom. Mandy wasn't in there either, so Karen exited into the backyard once again.

Mandy was seated at one of the lawn chairs with her back to the door. Karen floated towards her as if pulled by a magnetic force. She dragged one of the other chairs closer to Mandy and sat down beside her. Karen remained silent. Mandy did too, and gently rested her head on Karen's shoulder. A few quiet moments passed before Mandy lifted her head and looked at Karen.

Karen took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly before meeting Mandy's expectant gaze. She glanced back and forth between Mandy's clear blue eyes and her light pink lips. Something had shifted in the air since she sat down and now she and Mandy were closing their eyes and leaning in to press their lips together.

The moment was ripped away from them, though, when Karen felt someone yank at her hair hard. She fell roughly to the ground, her head landing on a large rock. Karen could hear someone yelling, but she couldn't make out any of the words. She blinked, willing the dark spots from her vision to dissipate.

When her senses returned, Karen saw Kenyatta towering over Mandy and screaming in her face. Her head lolled to the side absentmindedly, and she spotted the infamous Gallagher baseball bat.

Before she could gather her thoughts, she reached for the bat. Karen gripped it firmly in her hands and stood up swiftly. She summoned all the strength she could and smashed the bat against Kenyatta's face. She wasn't sure if the loud crunch that sounded was from the bat or Kenyatta's nose breaking, but Karen didn't care. Karen swung again, making Kenyatta finally plummet to the ground.

He was still too conscious for her liking, so Karen flipped the bat in her hands so she was grasping the larger end, and drove the handle into Kenyatta's face several more times until he blacked out.

"Karen! Karen, stop!" Mandy cried out, bringing Karen back from her violent trance. Mandy tugged at Karen until they were a few feet away from the bloody mess Karen had made of Kenyatta.

Karen let the bloodstained bat fall to the ground. She noticed Mandy was crying, and then realized she was crying herself. She gasped for air but was pressing her lips to Mandy's before she could get any into her lungs. The cut on her lip stung when Mandy kissed her back passionately, but she ignored the pain, focusing on the sweet taste of Mandy's lips instead.

They pulled apart when they heard the back door swing open.

"The fuck's going on out here?" Lip asked, as the Gallaghers and company exited into the yard.

"Holy shit," Mickey swore when he saw Kenyatta lying on the ground.

Fiona prevented her younger siblings from following everyone, and turned to address her own friends. "Vee, you and Kev take the kids. Stay inside."

"Yeah, ok," Vee assured her, taking the kids back into the house.

"Is he dead?" Ian wondered.

"No, I don't think so," Karen answered, just as Kenyatta began to rouse.

"Unfortunately…" Mandy added.

Fiona grabbed the bat quickly and stood above Kenyatta just as he sat up. "I don't know what the fuck just happened, and I don't much care to discuss it with you. Just know that if you go anywhere near these girls again, or any _one_ of us, you're gonna have to deal _all_ of us. You got that?"

Kenyatta was still regaining his senses but managed to respond. "Yeah, I got that."

"Good. Now, get the fuck outta my house."

Kenyatta wobbled to his feet, swaying from side to side as he made his way passed everyone.

Mickey watched him warily, raising an eyebrow slightly. He glanced back at his sister and then somewhat stared at Karen, raising his eyebrow even further.

"What?" Karen asked.

"Nothin', Jackson," Mickey replied. "Just kinda scared of you now."

"Yeah, well, if you're not then I'm doing something wrong."

Fiona chuckled. "C'mon, let's have Vee take a look at you inside."

Karen nodded. She felt Mandy slide a hand to hers and intertwined their fingers. She glanced down at their hands and then to Mandy, and smiled. Mandy smiled right back at her.

"So, uh… what exactly _did_ happen?" Lip asked.

Mickey clicked his tongue. "God, you're brother's dense for a smart guy," he said, turning to go back inside the house.

"At least you don't have to live with him," Ian remarked, following his boyfriend.

* * *

"Karen… Karen," Sheila said in a singsong voice, waving her hand in front of her daughter's face. "Where'd you go?"

"Huh?"

"I asked if you're alright, honey."

Karen smiled and hugged Sheila abruptly. "Yeah, Mom," she said, releasing her mother.

"Yeah, I'm great."


End file.
